Men Who Wear Nail Polish Share Why Stigmas Against Them Shouldn't Exist

When I was a kid, my dad would take me to the nail salon on the weekends. He'd sit next to me, getting his nails buffed and filed while I had mine painted Barbie pink with little crystal-studded flowers. At the time, I didn't understand why my dad didn't get a color on his nails, too, and the fact that he was the only man getting his nails done didn't phase me either. To this day, he claims he didn't get his painted because he "never found [his] color," but we all know taboos regarding men who wear nail polish might have help him back.

Throughout history, society has attached unfair stigmas to men who wear nail polish. To learn more, I spoke with four men who do so on a regular basis, and they all mentioned the conclusions that people jump to when they see a man with painted nails. People tend to assume that they are either gay or transgender — conjectures that are only offensive in that neither gender identity nor sexual orientation can be indicated based on appearance and personal aesthetic tastes.

Another often inaccurate hypothesis: men are merely product testers for female partners. Travis McElroy, a co-host of several podcasts including My Brother, My Brother and Me and Shmanners, tells Allure, "When I’m with my wife, I’ve had people make comments like, ‘Oh, does she practice her polish on you?’ or something assuming that I have nail polish because my wife put it on me — not because I wanted to."

Of course, the same taboos are often connected to men wearing makeup, too. Strides taken in the last couple of years have started to dismantle those boundaries, though, as beauty brands become more inclusive than ever before. Influencers like James Charles and Manny Gutierrez and singers like Z.Tao are getting makeup endorsement deals, and ads often feature male models wearing the latest foundations and highlighters. But what you don't see on billboards is men wearing nail polish.

Joey Graceffa is helping change that. He might not have gotten a nail polish endorsement deal, but the YouTube star just launched his own line of colorful lacquers called Crystal Polish as part of his Crystal Wolf brand. “I think me wearing nail polish in general, has inspired a lot of other boys to wear it," Graceffa says. With over eight million YouTube subscribers to his name, he can say that.

I guess it’s not taboo anymore if there’s a male creating a nail polish line.

In fact, Graceffa even posted a video titled "BOYS GET NAILS PAINTED!" that has been viewed almost a million times. "Now that I have it attached to my brand and I have my own nail polish, boys [are starting to realize], ‘Oh, not only does Joey wear nail polish, but he also creates his own line of it. He’s real invested in this nail polish stuff, so I guess it’s not taboo anymore if there’s a male creating a nail polish line.’”

Let's be real, the most acceptable concept of men who wear nail polish is often regulated to musicians. I dare you to ask anyone you know if they're friends with any men who wear nail polish. If they say yes, follow up your question with "are they in a band?" They'll most likely say yes. The same goes with male celebrities that wear nail polish. A large percentage of them are singers: Seal, Harry Styles, David Bowie, to name a few.

More recently, a member of K-pop group EXO named Sehun appeared on the cover of the fall issue of China's SuperElle with graphic nail art. (Unfortunately, his schedule has been too hectic lately to chat with me about it.) Seeing the cover for the first time made me weirdly emotional. I texted my best friend in all caps and sent her screenshots. In my excitement, I probably said something along the lines of "Sehun is the future of beauty" and "when will your faves" because K-pop makes me dramatic, but there's a sliver of truth in each statement.

Advertisement

Another popular way of seeing male celebrities with colorful nails is when they are supporting a cause. Last year, Zac Efron and the Hemsworth brothers each painted a single nail for the Polished Man campaign, which aims to raise awareness for victims of childhood abuse.

However, men including Graceffa and McElroy have proved that there are men out there who wear nail polish on as regular of a basis as I do. (My nails feel weird without it, to put it in perspective.) McElroy compares it to an everyday aesthetic choice like a T-shirt or haircut.

"I get asked a lot why I do it. When the answer is because I think it looks good, I don’t know what type of answer the person is expecting," he tells Allure. "I had someone once get very upset because they assumed I was doing it for some kind of cause or to prove something."

I care about myself enough to do this for myself.

Instead, McElroy finds the act of painting his nails an act of self-care. "It becomes a very meditative moment where it’s like I’m doing something because I want to for myself," he says. "If I’m preparing for an event or I just want to spend some time for myself, it’s a very kind of personal touch that I can give myself. It’s like, hey I care about myself enough to do this for myself." McElroy even enjoys giving himself a manicure before doing a live show for one of his podcasts. "It makes me feel very confident and makes me feel like I’m preparing for something," he adds.

Hosts of popular podcasts aren't the only ones painting their nails either. A whole Reddit community even exists called Male Polish. Here, men from all over the world post pictures of their manicured hands. Some share their first time ever wearing nail polish. Other show off their latest color of the moment. One person recently vented about his worries about buying nail polish at the store himself. All are seen in a positive, anonymous, safe space.

Instagram has also provides a platform for men who wear nail polish, too. My favorite account to follow is @daddy_long_nails. Jose Portes posts selfies of himself slaying in long, lacquered claws. Oh yeah, and they are 100 percent real. As some who can't grow my nails more than half a centimeter, his account has given me serious nail envy. Portes has been wearing nail polish for about four years now. "It was love at first coat!" he tells Allure. "While playing with my little cousin, I let her paint my nails blue, and from that first moment on, I've loved painting my nails."

Portes says he felt an instant boost of confidence that first time. Although he says he's always been confident in himself, "this time was something I loved for myself — loved doing, having, being." With having painted nails as something so tangible and visible, Portes adds that he allowed himself to not be preoccupied with others' perceptions, likes or dislikes. Instead, "I love doing what makes me happy," he explains. "I love stretching out my fingers and seeing color on my nails."

The reactions Portes receives are all across the board. "[They range] from pure disbelief, judgment, distaste, hate to appreciation, ultimate admiration to sexual innuendo," he says. "I've heard it all, from women and men." Because he doesn't grow and paint his nails for attention, he notes he appreciates both positive and negative reactions. In fact, Portes finds his long nails to be an extension of his overall personal style and a "visual representation of my personality."

You’re definitely no less masculine or no more with nail polish or makeup on.

Through Portes and Ryan Morgan, I learned that nothing about wearing nail polish should make a person any more or less feminine or masculine if they don't want to. Morgan, who co-founded the hair dye brand Arctic Fox with his wife Kristen Leanne, has been getting gels for the past four years and gets pedicures, too. "I really don’t equate this sort of thing with masculinity or femininity," he tells Allure. "It is what it is. You’re definitely no less masculine or no more with nail polish or makeup on. That comes from within and who you are and how you are in the world more than what you put on."

Advertisement

The topic of makeup arose because Morgan himself wears it, as well, but that's not his only colorful way of showing off his style. His hair and beard are often dyed fluorescent colors, and barring from his face, Morgan has tattoos basically everywhere. When I last saw him, his hair and beard were a matching neon flamingo pink and his nails were black with holographic accents. (He tends to go with glittery or holographic nail looks.) "It’s just overload," he laughs. "People don’t really know what to do [when they see me], but I feel more comfortable when people notice me. Some people don’t like attention, and I feel weird if I walk into a room and no one is paying attention."

And each part of his colorful look is interconnected. Morgan started to get tattoos because "you get to take your favorite art pieces with you everywhere you go," he says. "It’s selfish art. It’s just for me, and it’s only going to be for me forever." The same idea applies to his nail polish and makeup. "I think you’re bringing a little bit of art, a little bit of color, a little bit of joy, a little bit of something outside of the day-to-day routine that everybody’s in," Morgan adds.

Painting my nails has allowed me to express myself a bit more in a way that I’ve always kinda wanted to.

Sexuality was bound to come up in my conversations with these men. It was inevitable. How polish on a man's nails can be a harbinger for sexuality is beyond me, but it's 100 percent a thing. One of my friends even has a single nail painted that he calls his "gay nail". I recently asked him why he doesn't just go ahead and paint them all. His response was something along the lines of not wanting to advertise his sexuality. He said the rest of the way he presents himself speaks for itself. Graceffa started with a single nail, too — his pinky. Eventually, he expanded to all 10 fingers.

"Painting my nails has allowed me to express myself a bit more in a way that I’ve always kinda wanted to," Graceffa explains. "Growing up, I was forced into the stereotypes of what a boy should do and be like. So of course, that stuck with me for a long time." He notes that he didn't feel comfortable enough with who he was to try painting his nails for a while, but once he moved to LA and came out in 2015, he finally felt like he was in the right place.

Still, he has hesitations. "Even being gay, there’s still a fear of wearing stereotypical 'girl things,'" he adds. However, the confidence that he feels in himself while wearing nail polish trumps that feeling.

Morgan, on the other hand, says he simply doesn't worry about people making assumptions about him. Like masculinity and femininity, he believes nail polish has no correlation to his sexuality. "Truthfully, people are going to make assumptions no matter what. It’s not really in my control," he adds. "They are going to make assumptions about everyone and everything, so I just do me, and I don’t really worry about it too much. I mean, I’m a 40-year-old married guy, so I don’t really have much to prove."